The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Dark Blues urged to learn lessons
Murray well aware of dangers in relegation battle
Dundee striker Simon Murray knows full well that they can’t afford to throw away any more games like the one at Rugby Park.
The Dark Blues found themselves in the box seat in Ayrshire on Tuesday night, holding a 2-1 lead over Kilmarnock and with their opponents seemingly losing their discipline after going down to 10 men.
However, they somehow conspired to concede two goals and crashed to a shattering 3-2 defeat.
On-loan Hibs man Murray, who experienced the pain of relegation with city rivals Dundee United two years ago, realises how precious points are as clubs approach the business end of the season.
The Dens men currently sit in ninth spot in the Premiership, just two points clear of Hamilton Accies in the play-off spot and five ahead of bottom club Ross County.
They travel to Firhill on Saturday to face 10thplaced Partick Thistle in what is now a serious sixpointer.
It has certainly been a grim few days from a Dundee perspective. Three games, three defeats and nine goals conceded is a disappointing mini-slump at a crucial time of the season. Before the first of those losses against Ross County, Dundee had been going well with back-to-back wins over Hamilton and Inverness.
However, that hammer blow loss against the Staggies was followed by the Scottish Cup exit to Motherwell last Saturday at Dens and then the 3-2 defeat against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Tuesday night.
Neil McCann’s men had led that game 2-1 but Steve Clarke’s side still managed to turn things around despite being reduced to 10 men.
I was at the Motherwell cup tie and I thought the Steelmen were well worth their win.
I was actually in the Motherwell end with some boys I know from Lanarkshire and I thought Trevor Carson’s save from Sofien Moussa was a huge turning point in the game.
The striker looked certain to score but the keeper produced an outstanding save, Motherwell went straight up the park and suddenly it was 2-0.
Overall, I was disappointed with Dundee. I think it is the first time I have seen them this season that I can say that.
I was very impressed by what was a young Motherwell team but I didn’t think Dundee were at it at all.
Neil was obviously not happy afterwards and he slated his players again following the Kilmarnock defeat.
Boys will want to stay in the team but if you are constantly conceding goals then he is entitled to chop and change the side as he sees it. He has the power of selection.
Neil is probably at the moment trying to find the right balance of his team.
They have some new bodies in like Simon Murray and Steven Caulker, who by all accounts scored a great goal and was outstanding against Killie.
There is no point in looking backwards – it is gone and you can’t change it.
It is the next batch of games that they have to focus on.
It has been a bad week but, typical of Dundee, they will go down to Partick on Saturday and probably get a result.
They just have to remain positive and if they get something at Firhill then it will be a massive, massive result.
Considering some of the other games they have before the split with visits to the likes of Celtic Park, Ibrox and Pittodrie, the next two matches against Partick and Motherwell again are crucial.
When they played Ross County, I thought if Dundee could win they would be safe but then it reverses as they got a 4-1 doing and it put them right back under pressure.
Of course, the slump has coincided with the departures of Scott Allan to Hibs on loan and Jack Hendry who was sold to Celtic.
Allan’s assists and his play had been outstanding but he had only come back in after injury problems.
The directors may have to hold their hands up with Hendry, though, and say they maybe should have got him back on loan or held on to him until the summer.
It was the board’s decision to sell though, and they have to stand by it, but I am quite sure they will take criticism as well.
It was a big transfer fee but at the end of the day, if you end up down there in trouble in the play-offs is it worth it? For me, not at all. Deal in the Scottish game
The English Premier League this week negotiated a new deal with Sky and BT to show their games from 2019-2022 in a package worth a mindboggling £4.46 billion.
Good luck to them, even although there are some so-called big games from England which I just wouldn’t take the time to tune in to.
With the greatest of respect, Brighton v Huddersfield Town, for instance, is not my idea of a top watch.
However, if the TV companies are willing to fork out those huge amounts then that’s up to them.
Once again though I cannot help but feel we are being drastically short-changed considering the paltry TV deals we have to show Scottish games.
We are offered shirt buttons but the clubs in England are awarded top, top dollar.
It is wrong and I feel sorry for the clubs in this country.
It really is time we made a strong stance to receive the money we deserve for TV rights.